Who would have thought an FS1E would ever fetch £10,000

[Deleted member 6183]

I could see some bloke, say my age, who had a FS1E when he was 16. Thinking about buying a fully restored one to relive those halcyon days.

Imagine the disappointment!

 

[Darrell]

I could see some bloke, say my age, who had a FS1E when he was 16. Thinking about buying a fully restored one to relive those halcyon days.

Imagine the disappointment!

The same goes with most things we used to drive, ride, f**k, or whatever from the 70s and eighties.

 

[st13phil]

Definitely 2T - unlike the 250s from BSA which are all 4T (according to Wiki at least).

Yup, I know. Apologies for making two statements linked by "BSA" that were actually about different power units.

The Bantam was unreliable (as Ted attests!) but the 250 singles really were the pits.

BSA 2-strokes just blew up in a different way to their 4-strokes

 

[Deleted member 6183]

The same goes with most things we used to drive, ride, f**k, or whatever from the 70s and eighties.

Particularly the latter.

 

[st13phil]

Ended up giving it a good overhaul and clean up and gave it to my brother for his birthday.

You didn't like your brother much, did you?

 

[Bellow]

I could see some bloke, say my age, who had a FS1E when he was 16. Thinking about buying a fully restored one to relive those halcyon days.

Imagine the disappointment!

I do wonder which part of being 16 they are trying to recapture. Was it the flush with cash and flash?
Out of school at 16 and into an apprenticeship while still living with parents, they had disposable income that those who stayed on at school did not. Maybe the last time in their life that they had more money than those who stayed on and forged more lucrative careers. Is that the appeal? It can't be a burning desire to ride a 5hp machine with a frame as rigid as a sodden bus ticket and tyres that merely held the rims away from contact with tarmac.

 

[Bellow]

Yup, I know. Apologies for making two statements linked by "BSA" that were actually about different power units.

The Bantam was unreliable (as Ted attests!) but the 250 singles really were the pits.

BSA 2-strokes just blew up in a different way to their 4-strokes

There wasn't much in the way of proper 2T oil back then. But that an air cooled single cylinder 2T could constantly blow its head gasket is staggering!

 

[st13phil]

Castrol 2T was fine and engines manufactured by Suzuki, Yamaha and CZ were reliable. The problem was BSA...


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[Ted]

You didn't like your brother much, did you?

I made it up with him by selling him my 550/4. That was a fantastic bike.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uCUUmBXiGo6a3x1Z7

Excuse going ot, but this reminds me of one of my fascinating stories.
Sean had a Honda 175 at some point - definitely after the Bantam.
It was useless, and the final straw was when there was a gearbox problem.
I had a genius brainwave and suggested that he threw it in the canal, never to be seen again, report it stolen and claim the insurance (I was much younger and reckless then), which along with a couple of mates he duly did.
Trouble was, the bloody thing wouldn’t sink, so off they ran.
On reporting it stolen to the police, it turned out that someone had seen some ‘dodgy looking guys’ throwing a motorcycle into the canal, and duly reported it.
Sean had to pay a recovery charge and had to push the bike back from the police station. I can still see him pushing it down our road with the headlamp half full of dirty water sloshing around.
He ended up selling it for scrap, while I distanced myself from it, saying that if he was daft enough to take up one of my stupid suggestions then he only had himself to blame!
I haven’t changed.

 

[Mactech]

Never owned a FS1E, but one of our mechanics at TWR Jaguar in the late 80's did. He managed to fit it with a CBX 6 pot engine. I have not seen a dafter bike.... but it did actually run ...briefly!
How are 6 cylinder (properly engineered) bikes Phil?

 

[st13phil]

How are 6 cylinder (properly engineered) bikes Phil?

Wonderful, thank you

Still running it in, but even using limited RPM and throttle it's pretty quick and it's soooo smoooooth. One good toy is the trip logging that's built in to the sat-nav. For example, it tells me that yesterday's ride of around 91 miles included 592 turns and 573 gear changes

 

[Mactech]

Wonderful, thank you

Still running it in, but even using limited RPM and throttle it's pretty quick and it's soooo smoooooth. One good toy is the trip logging that's built in to the sat-nav. For example, it tells me that yesterday's ride of around 91 miles included 592 turns and 573 gear changes

I just love stuff like that. The more information the better. I've done about 600 miles on two wheels the last couple of weeks, but only changed gear myself on about half a dozen occasions.....

 

[Alfie]

The same goes with most things we used to drive, ride, f**k, or whatever from the 70s and eighties.

Oh I don't know. I recently married my second ever long term girlfriend.................. just like a fine wine.....

I've also bought a series of mid nineties early noughties bikes aswell............

 

[Scott_F]

The same goes with most things we used to drive, ride, f**k, or whatever from the 70s and eighties.

The object of many a schoolboy crush....

 

[Oli]

Oh I don't know. I recently married my second ever long term girlfriend.................. just like a fine wine.....

I've also bought a series of mid nineties early noughties bikes aswell............

I got an Aprilia RS250 before they shot up in value too much, went 400 4 stroke when I passed my test originally and always wanted a 250 2 stroke, great fun to ride, I almost enjoy it as much as my modern bike!, they're very different to ride though but that's not too surprising given one has 55 ish BHP and one has 214 BHP and a host of modern electronics on!, sadly though the RS250 is awaiting some work and attention which I likely won't do until the winter now .

 

[Flyinspanner]

£5-6k is really the top end for a show grade FS1E.

 

[GeordieN]

I loved mine when I was 16 and had I known or even thought it would ever be worth this sort of money, the £200 I paid for it would have been a sound investment!

1975 Yamaha FS1E 49cc Classic Vintage Genuine UK 70's Pedal Moped In Purple, WoW | eBay

Mind you, its not sold..........yet.

I met I Guy pretty local to me a few weeks back while picking up something I bought from him, walked into his Garage/workshop at his home discovered he restores motorbikes. and he has a favourite he restores all the time which is the FS1E. He had one there getting built back up and when he is done they look like they have just come out the showroom, the one he had there also was a rare 5 speed so i think he said its worth 5-6 grand where a 4 speed would fetch 4 to 5 grand.

 

[Mactech]

I got an Aprilia RS250 before they shot up in value too much, went 400 4 stroke when I passed my test originally and always wanted a 250 2 stroke, great fun to ride, I almost enjoy it as much as my modern bike!,

I loved my RS250, great to fun to ride.


...But even better was a a bike with 1/2 the capacity which I built for my son to race. A proper racing Honda RS125.
Having built it, it would have be rude not to test it. It's probably the most fun I have ever had on 2 wheels



Still not sure I could get excited about a 'Fizzy'

 

[Edd1968]

Loved the RS250 (albeit with the RGV motor)
While we're on the subject of stinkers, I used to belong to an unofficial 2 stroke club while I lived in Germany. Various types, RGVs, TZRs, RD500s. I had a Susuki RG500 (crazy square 4 twin crankshaft design) We all used Castrol TTS and even though there was always competition to be at the front and fastest, sometimes riding at the back was fantastic just the fumes alone!!! (no wonder my head is so mashed!!!) bloody thing ran so rich, we'd slow down to go through a village and it would foul up a plug and I always carried at least 4 spare. If I leaned it down anymore than it already was, they had a tendency to seize!!! Loved it, it was so light, it wheelied at every opportunity

When I first started out on my 3 wheel 'career' in 1987 I missed the fizzy 50 part though, went straight onto the massive by comparison 125cc!!! Just look at those Frank Thomas leathers, what a look! I thought I was the coolest thing in coolsvill!!

 

[Edd1968]

This all prompted me to go and look through some of my old collection of bike mags. I have Classic Bike from Jan 1998 where they did an article on my very own Ducati 500SL MK1 Pantah. But also a certain (still racing at the time) Jamie Witham and his FS-1E....